Humanitarian Aid Under Fire

A Global Analysis of Violence Against Humanitarian Workers

1 Introduction: The Rising Threats to Humanitarian Workers

Around the world, humanitarian aid workers risk their lives to assist communities affected by conflict, disaster, and crisis. But what happens when aid itself becomes a target?

This research explores global patterns of violence against humanitarian personnel using data from the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD). By examining incident patterns across time, geography, and conflict contexts, we uncover both universal trends and context-specific threats that shape the security landscape for aid operations worldwide. Each record in the dataset includes:

Temporal and geographic data: Incident date, location, coordinates
Organizational details: Staff nationality
Incident specifics: Attack type, context, and location
Impact metrics: Numbers killed, wounded, kidnapped

The AWSD is considered the gold standard for humanitarian security data and is used by researchers, policy makers, and security practitioners worldwide.

2 Research Questions and Methodology

2.1 Research Questions

This research seeks to answer four fundamental questions about humanitarian security:

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    title[("Security Incident Analysis<br>Research Questions")] 
    title --> A & B & C & D
    
    A["What types of attacks are<br>most common?"]:::primary
    
    B["How does violence vary by<br>year and political event?"]:::primary
    
    C["How does risk differ for national<br>vs. international staff?"]:::primary
    
    D["What contextual factors shape<br>security patterns?"]:::primary

2.2 Methodology

This project is broken into three main parts. First, we conduct a global analysis of all countries to uncover global trends in humanitarian security incidents. Next, we take a closer look at eight contemporary conflict hotspots—Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali, Palestine, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Syria—to explore country-specific patterns and challenges. Lastly, throughout our analysis, we encountered a significant number of unknown values; we examine the implications of this missing data and reflect on how uncertainty shapes our understanding of humanitarian risk.

3 Regional Focus: Eight Contemporary Hotspots

3.1 Why These Eight Countries?

These countries consistently rank among those with the highest security incident rates, both historically and over the past 15 years. Mali emerges as a major hotspot primarily in the past 15 years.

Although they represent just 8.4% of the countries in the dataset, these eight countries account for 63.8% of all recorded incidents.

5,375 humanitarian aid workers have been affected by the violence in these countries.

3.2 Key Findings

3.2.1 Staff Nationality and Casualty Patterns

There is a consistent disparity in security incidents affecting national versus international staff:

National staff account for a significant amount of all casualities (killed, wounded, and kidnapped)

This pattern represents both an operational challenge and an ethical concern for humanitarian organizations attempting to manage risk equitably.

Humanitarian Security Incidents by Country

3.2.2 Attack Methods, Contexts, and Locations

Attack methods, contexts, and locations vary significantly across these eight conflict zones, reflecting differences in conflict dynamics, armed actor capabilities, and tactical objectives:

Top Three Attack Methods, Contexts & Locations by Country

0–49

50–99

100–149

150+

Humanitarian security threats vary widely, with common attack methods including kidnappings, ambushes, shootings, and exposure to crossfire. These threats often occur during travel or in insecure compounds, highlighting the need for context-specific strategies. Ambushes require secure movement planning, crossfire zones need early warning systems and shelter, and areas prone to kidnappings or compound attacks demand staff training and physical site protection. Road travel remains especially risky, emphasizing the importance of route assessments and convoy protocols to safeguard aid workers.

3.2.3 Political Transitions Create Vulnerability Windows

Security incidents consistently spike during political turmoil. Contributing factors identified in our analysis include:

Peace agreements
Coups and regime changes
Territorial control shifts

Select a country below to learn more about the conflict it has faced.

Syria

Occupied Palestinian Territories

3.2.4 Missing Context, Hidden Risks

Missing data remains a major challenge. In several countries, over one-third of incidents lack key contextual information—limiting our ability to fully understand patterns of violence and potentially underrepresenting specific threats.

Due to uneven documentation quality, we prioritized variables with higher data completeness—namely location, means of attack, and attack context—as the main points of analysis, reflecting a reporting emphasis on “what” happened rather than “who” was responsible.

4 Conclusions and Recommendations

4.1 Implications from Key Findings

Security strategies must be context-specific
Patterns of violence vary widely by country—kidnappings, ambushes, aerial bombardments—making one-size-fits-all protocols ineffective.
National staff face disproportionate risk
Across all regions, national personnel experience more casualties than international staff, raising urgent ethical and operational concerns.
Political transitions increase risk
Security incidents often spike during leadership changes, peace deals, or shifts in territorial control, creating windows of heightened vulnerability.
Lower incident counts don’t always signal improvement
A decline in reported attacks may reflect aid withdrawal or underreporting, especially in high-unknown-data contexts—not necessarily increased safety.
Data gaps obscure key risks
In many countries, records lack crucial context, limiting the ability to design fully informed security strategies.

4.2 Recommendations for Humanitarian Organizations

4.2.1 Security Planning

Develop country-specific protocols based on the dominant attack methods and risk contexts.
Ensure equity in protection policies, providing national staff with safety measures equivalent to those of international personnel.
Integrate early warning systems tied to political events and local shifts in control.
Improve data collection and completeness to better understand risk environments and adapt security policies in real time.

4.2.2 Context-Specific Security Measures

In ambush-heavy settings (e.g., Sudan, South Sudan, DRC, Mali): Prioritize secure transportation, journey management, and convoy procedures.
In urban conflict or aerial threat zones (e.g., Syria, Palestine): Invest in shelter infrastructure and real-time conflict tracking.
In high kidnap-risk regions (e.g., Afghanistan, Somalia, Mali): Emphasize low-profile operations, staff movement protocols, and abduction response training.

4.3 💡 Recommendations for Future Research

Investigate differences in outcomes and risk between local and international personnel.
Evaluate which security practices are most effective across different conflict types.
Explore how climate stressors intersect with violence and impact aid operations.

5 📥 Source and Access

This dataset was downloaded directly from: 👉 Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD) (Outcomes, 2024).

Please cite as:
Humanitarian Outcomes. Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD). https://aidworkersecurity.org

6 References

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2024). Mali - transportation and telecommunications. https://www.britannica.com/place/Mali/Transportation-and-telecommunications.

Foreign Relations, C. on. (2024a). Al-shabab in somalia. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/al-shabab-somalia

Foreign Relations, C. on. (2024b). Civil war in south sudan. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/civil-war-south-sudan

Foreign Relations, C. on. (2024c). Conflict in syria. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-syria

Foreign Relations, C. on. (2024d). Israeli-palestinian conflict. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflict

Foreign Relations, C. on. (2024e). Power struggle in sudan. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/power-struggle-sudan

Foreign Relations, C. on. (2024f). Violence in the democratic republic of congo. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-democratic-republic-congo

Foreign Relations, C. on. (2024g). Violent extremism in the sahel. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violent-extremism-sahel

Foreign Relations, C. on. (2024h). War in afghanistan. https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/war-afghanistan

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT (mar 14 version) [large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat.

Outcomes, H. (2024). Aid worker security database. https://www.aidworkersecurity.org/